At least 470 asylum seekers are known to be in Bogor and Mr Muhammad says there could be up to 2,000.

"In the end it's not an easy problem to solve. We don't have the facilities, and we only have 13 immigration detention centres," he said.

"At the moment immigration is looking into finding some locations but after what's happened in Bogor, we are now being careful.

"We need approval from the local authorities first."

He says the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Refugee Agency are helping.

The IOM wouldn't comment on its involvement, but the UNHCR's Jakarta office gave a statement to the ABC.

"Authorities are indeed concerned with the situation as a result of local protests against the number of foreign nationals living in that province, including a large number of refugees and asylum seekers," the statement said.

"The UNHCR has put itself at the disposal of the government of Indonesia should the authorities decide to take any particular measures to address the current situation."

As another sign that Indonesia expects asylum seekers to keep coming, it plans to build three more immigration detention centres.